[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1308 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1308

 To direct the Secretary of Defense to adopt a program of professional 
 and confidential screenings to detect mental health injuries acquired 
during deployment in support of a contingency operation and ultimately 
           to reduce the incidence of suicide among veterans.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 4, 2009

Mr. McMahon (for himself, Mr. Rooney, and Mr. Perriello) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, 
and in addition to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, for a period to 
      be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Secretary of Defense to adopt a program of professional 
 and confidential screenings to detect mental health injuries acquired 
during deployment in support of a contingency operation and ultimately 
           to reduce the incidence of suicide among veterans.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Mental Health Screening and 
Assessment Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the increasing rate of suicide among veterans returning 
        from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom is 
        a serious problem; and
            (2) the Secretary of Defense should conduct mandatory, 
        face-to-face and confidential mental health and traumatic brain 
        injury screenings by a licensed medical professional, for each 
        member of the Armed Forces, during the period beginning 90 days 
        after the date on which the member completes a deployment in 
        support of a contingency operation and ending 180 days after 
        such date.

SEC. 3. MANDATORY, FACE-TO-FACE AND CONFIDENTIAL SCREENINGS FOR SUICIDE 
              PREVENTION AMONG VETERANS.

    (a) Mandatory Screenings.--The Secretary of Defense shall carry out 
a mandatory, face-to-face, and confidential mental health and traumatic 
brain injury screening conducted by a licensed medical professional, 
for each member of the Armed Forces, during the period beginning 90 
days after the date on which the member completes a deployment in 
support of a contingency operation and ending 180 days after such date.
    (b) Requirements of Screening.--The screenings required by 
subsection (a) shall be designed to--
            (1) provide the members of the Armed Forces with an 
        objective mental health and traumatic brain injury standard to 
        screen for suicide risk factors;
            (2) ease the members' transitions by allowing them to be 
        honest in their assessments;
            (3) battle the stigma of depression and mental health 
        problems among service personnel and veterans; and
            (4) ultimately reduce the prevalence of suicide among 
        veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring 
        Freedom.
    (c) Return to United States.--The Secretary of Defense may not 
prohibit a member of the Armed Forces from returning to the United 
States by reason of any result or determination made pursuant to a 
screening conducted under subsection (a).
    (d) Requirement for Department of Defense and Department of 
Veterans Affairs To Share Information About Mental Health Screenings.--
Pursuant to and consistent with requirements of the Wounded Warrior Act 
(title IV of Public Law 110-181; 10 U.S.C. 1071 note), and section 1614 
of that Act in particular, and section 1720F of title 38, United States 
Code, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
shall establish a joint protocol to share existing and future reports 
from confidential mental health screenings conducted under this section 
to help aid members of the Armed Forces in their transition from health 
care and treatment provided by the Department of Defense to health care 
and treatment provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
    (e) Contingency Operation.--for the purposes of this Act, the term 
``contingency operation'' has the meaning given that term under section 
101(13) of title 10, United States Code.
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